Sixty five years I have spent in and around the Detroit metropolitan area. I grew up in a Detroit suburb, earned a bachelor’s degree in management, traveled the world in the military and returned home to start a family and embark on a 24-year banking career. Sandwiched in there I earned an MBA.
Today, I am the man behind the woman at EA Schensky. That is Elizabeth A, my wife since 1971 and the mother of our three children. And that’s not all. Beth has been an accounting, tax and financial professional since 1975.
Question: How did I come to hold this position?
Easy answer: Early retirement.
One retired banker
+ one accountant with a thriving business
= a new career for me as the man behind the woman at EA Schensky!
DEFINING MEMORIES FOR ME…
Today, television reporters break in to local programming to show a shuttle launch for about 10 minutes. Not so when I was growing up! Back then, TV devoted hours of coverage for each launch. I was a fervent watcher of all the NASA space shots, starting with the Mercury program.
High school years were filled with fun; football to basketball games. Some high school in the area always had a sock hop. So many happy memories of hanging out with friends on Woodward! Whose car was the fastest? Maybe a little cruising for “chicks” at drive-in restaurants such as the Totem Pole and Ted’s!
I remember being in high school Latin class when the announcement came over the PA system that President Kennedy had been shot. Glued to the TV all weekend, I watched in double shock as Oswald was shot Sunday morning in the Dallas police garage. We all felt like we were there. Shock and disbelief.
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD
As a freshman at a Catholic college, I was introduced to traditional college life — and then there was the first-ever campus protest over this war called Vietnam: students running around with placards, tipping over garbage cans, going off-campus and causing a ruckus in the upper-class neighborhood. Police were called in to quell the protest. Jesuit priests frantically tried to calm the students. An amazing experience, and I WAS there!
The Vietnam War cast a pall over males during our college years. The Selective Service changed the criteria for the draft annually. As full-time college students, we were exempt. But as graduation beckoned, our status quickly changed to 1-A: immediately available for military service. Horror stories of soldiers coming back in body bags heightened our fears. A lot of soul searching went on about how to avoid the draft. What to do? Get married… Become a teacher… flee to Canada…
I ended up serving in the Navy for six years, travelling to Morocco and the Caribbean. Great tours of duty!
Beth and I married during that time, traveling together then and since. Our three children are grown and all hung on their respective hooks. Two married and owning their own businesses. The third is still working on her life story. No grandchildren yet. I am convinced when they do arrive, I will spoil the dickens out of them.
In the meantime, just call me “the man behind the woman at EA Schensky.”
